Joyce Vandermay
It has been a wonderful 10 days. And I'm so happy that I endured the plane ride here, fifteen hours is a long, long time to sit in a tiny seat. And we had the chorus of two extremely un-happy babies, if the one in the front was quiet, then the poor child in the back was crying.
It is quite an adventure to travel around the city by taxi, lots of horns blaring, and a sea of scooters undulating down the street in a haze of smog. A nice breeze will blow the air some-what cleaner. Most of the scooter drivers wear a mask, and often the women wear gloves that go almost to their shoulders,to keep the sun off their skin. And again a wide brimmed hat under their helmet.Some scooters have a scooter "bed" in front of their handle-bars, and some scooters have them behind their seat, it's amazing how much cargo they can carry.
Shopping at the Ben Than market is over-whelming, tiny stalls and the clerks call out Madame, Madame, you want leather purse, shirt, or what ever they have for sale, and sometimes they grab your hand and pull you into their little stall, "you like this, many color" very aggresive sales technique. The fabric stalls are absolutely packed as high as they can with colorful fabric, one day a man was sleeping on top of the stack! Another day a woman crawled out from under a clothing rack, stretched out and went back to work. Clara was concerned about being rude to the clerks by always telling them no, so we decided that a "no thank you" would work.
Sharon and I found a beautiful silk that will become dresses for Analyse and Clara.
Another grand thing we bought was silk pajamas, How nice to wear those to bed!
The meat market was a "trip" all on its own, everything but the moo. Cows tongue, and also testicles, Sharon wimped out in that section.
Don't be worried about traveling to Saigon, you can get any kind of American food you choose, and through charades you can get across what you need, this has been a great trip.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Friday, January 9, 2009
From the Small World Dept.
Okay, so Silas and I have been sucked into the orbit of Fulham Football Club, the most unfancied Premiership team in London and, not coincidentally, the one that most frequently signs American players. Fellow Wellesley soccer product Tom Wadlington has, not surprisingly, thrown himself into Fulham support without reserve, jetting over to Putney for the odd match, kindly picking up authentic FFC gear for Silas, and mixing it up on the Fulham chat boards. Tom the Yank, a.k.a., Tommy Three Points, has become something of a folk legend in SW6. In any case, a few weeks back Tom informs me there’s this raging Fulham fan on the chat boards based in Saigon, of indeterminate British/Commonwealth extraction, goes by the handle “Polecat”, or simply The Cat. It’s incumbent upon me, of course, to hook up with him for some FFC footy-watching in HCMC, Tom says. I’m dubious. This guy could be any manner of whack-job, but Tom introduces us by email and one thing leads to another… Turns out he lives in District 2, as we do. He seems quite normal (for a guy called “Polecat”) and eventually he asks where I’m living and what I’m doing here. Uh, no dice. I don’t want The Cat showing up on my doorstep, in his cups, cursing Frank Lampard. I dodge this adroitly and ask what HE’s doing here. Well, he’s an English teacher — at the ACG International School, Year 8 to be precise. Yep, he’s Silas’ English teacher.
The First Week
Okay... it is hard to believe we have been here a week! Hal, being the most familiar with the country, has settled right in and has been off to numerous meetings and will golf tomorrow morning. Everyone but me seems to have adjusted their internal clocks and are sleeping through the night.
We've discovered the local supermarket which does carry a few western products - cereal, granola bars, potato chips and pepsi. We've been advised to purchase milk from Australia or New Zealand in shelf stable packaging - king of like a super-size juice box. We've picked up fruit and vegetables from the neighborhood produce stands. We're still figuring out the meat part of it - we've purchased frozen products from the supermarket but haven't dared to buy anything from the open air. Eggs are not refrigerated here and you can buy chicken eggs or tiny brown and white quail eggs. I'll try to get a picture of those. There are also BLACK eggs, and we'll have to ask our friend Thuy (twee) what THOSE are. There is a good french bakery in our neighborhood as well. I walked downtown during breakfast time one morning and was intrigued to see the locals getting baguettes with vegetables and meat on them from a local pushcart, or sitting down at a cafe for pho which is a type of broth that you add bits of meat and vegetables to. I'll try to get a picture because it is quite different from having cereal or toast. Also, the food here is very inexpensive - 25 cents for a coke, $6 for a sandwich, fries, and a coke, $6 for a cab into district 1. Clothing is inexpensive too - $5 for silk pajamas; $4/meter for silk fabric, $4 for a shirt...
Silas and Clara really like their school. The system they are in calls kindergarten "year 1" which means Clara is in year 6 and Silas is in year 8. So far the only subject they feel behind in is Mandarin Chinese. Of course, Silas at least is far ahead in spanish! Clara has one teacher for most subjects except computer, library, and physical education - just like Dunn School. Silas has a different teacher for each subject. Clara was teamed up with a girl from Korea named Anna, and Silas was teamed up with a boy from Australia and a boy from Vietnam. They are both of great interest in the school since the majority of the students are Asian. For lunch each day they can choose from a western lunch or an asian lunch. Today Silas had shrimp scampi - the asian choice was a fish dish. We received the first school newsletter today. There is a new family orientation "tea" next Friday. The school has chosen a local orphanage as a charity and there is a drive for food, clothes, toys and money going on. The students will deliver the collected items in February. School begins at 8:00 a.m. and ends at 2:45. After the Tet holiday there will be an afterschool activity from 2:55 - 3:55 Tues. - Thur.: homework lab, computer club, science club, tennis, flag football, dance, art, or a bookclub. There were 28 new students that started school this quarter! There are about 350 students in the school. Last year (year 1) there were 150. To give you an idea of the growth in this country, they expect to have over 1,000 students within two years.
Our apartment is lovely and maids magically arrive to clean it EVERY DAY! We tried to send them away one day but they insisted that they must clean. The kitchen cupboards are positioned very high! I'm not especially short and it is difficult for me to reach the top shelf of the cabinets. When the air conditioning in one of the bedrooms wasn't working they came to fix it immediately. Also, the first sofa we had was made of some sort of fake leather and it started peeling, for lack of a better word, two days after we got here. We showed it to the office manager and they brought a new one the next day. We weren't really asking for a replacement, we just wanted to note the flaking on our inventory sheet so that we wouldn't be charged for the sofa when we left but that is how it was handled. This doesn't bode well for my own home maintenance this spring. I'll be very disappointed when I dial 0 and find my problems aren't fixed IMMEDIATELY, it will be even worse when my feet return to earth and I realize I have to fix things myself!
One thing that we've rapidly learned is that everything has a system that MUST BE FOLLOWED or there will be BIG PROBLEMS. For example, I went to Gloria Jeans to purchase a french press so we could have coffee, and included three bags of coffee - columbian roast, mocha java, and bena bena. Well, the guy rang up 2 columbians and one mocha instead of one of each and you'd thing the world was coming to an end. I told him "no big deal" since the bottom line was that the charge was correct, but he said "oh no, BIG PROBLEM with bank!". My mother, Silas and Clara were waiting for me outside and thought I'd been taken hostage. Since I mentioned it, there are few american chains here - Gloria Jeans, KFC, and Pizza Hut are the only three I've seen. There are many american apparel labels however - my Mother picked up a Chanel purse for $7.00 (120,000 VND), and we've seen copious quantities of Louis Vuitton, Ambercrombie, La Coste, Timberland, Banana Republic, etc... DVD's can also be had for a song though they don't always work in US machines apparently. The woman at one DVD stall said they do work in US computers, usually not on DVD machines. A lot of the movies currently out at the movies are on DVD here. So, let me know if you are dying for a designer label and I'll see what I can do for you... and as a special note to Sandy McDonald - how about copious instead of plethora for a change?
Ho Chi Mihn is divided into districts. Our neighborhood is located in Thao Dien Ward, District 2. Much of the central shopping and high-end hotels are located in the adjacent district 1. We went to dinner in district 1 last night at a place called Bun - there should be a symbol over the "u" but I don't know how to do that. Anyway, bun means rice noodle. We've managed to cook or eat primarily western meals up until then. I'm quite proud of Silas and Clara for trying new foods, though entire crabs came in the dish their grandmother ordered last night and we weren't sure what to do with them. We ended up setting them aside - Silas had a dish with duck - he had to take the duck off the bone to eat it. Clara loved the rolled noodles and the bean sprouts.
We're going to the pagoda tomorrow so keep watch for those pictures along with notes from Silas and Clara.
We've discovered the local supermarket which does carry a few western products - cereal, granola bars, potato chips and pepsi. We've been advised to purchase milk from Australia or New Zealand in shelf stable packaging - king of like a super-size juice box. We've picked up fruit and vegetables from the neighborhood produce stands. We're still figuring out the meat part of it - we've purchased frozen products from the supermarket but haven't dared to buy anything from the open air. Eggs are not refrigerated here and you can buy chicken eggs or tiny brown and white quail eggs. I'll try to get a picture of those. There are also BLACK eggs, and we'll have to ask our friend Thuy (twee) what THOSE are. There is a good french bakery in our neighborhood as well. I walked downtown during breakfast time one morning and was intrigued to see the locals getting baguettes with vegetables and meat on them from a local pushcart, or sitting down at a cafe for pho which is a type of broth that you add bits of meat and vegetables to. I'll try to get a picture because it is quite different from having cereal or toast. Also, the food here is very inexpensive - 25 cents for a coke, $6 for a sandwich, fries, and a coke, $6 for a cab into district 1. Clothing is inexpensive too - $5 for silk pajamas; $4/meter for silk fabric, $4 for a shirt...
Silas and Clara really like their school. The system they are in calls kindergarten "year 1" which means Clara is in year 6 and Silas is in year 8. So far the only subject they feel behind in is Mandarin Chinese. Of course, Silas at least is far ahead in spanish! Clara has one teacher for most subjects except computer, library, and physical education - just like Dunn School. Silas has a different teacher for each subject. Clara was teamed up with a girl from Korea named Anna, and Silas was teamed up with a boy from Australia and a boy from Vietnam. They are both of great interest in the school since the majority of the students are Asian. For lunch each day they can choose from a western lunch or an asian lunch. Today Silas had shrimp scampi - the asian choice was a fish dish. We received the first school newsletter today. There is a new family orientation "tea" next Friday. The school has chosen a local orphanage as a charity and there is a drive for food, clothes, toys and money going on. The students will deliver the collected items in February. School begins at 8:00 a.m. and ends at 2:45. After the Tet holiday there will be an afterschool activity from 2:55 - 3:55 Tues. - Thur.: homework lab, computer club, science club, tennis, flag football, dance, art, or a bookclub. There were 28 new students that started school this quarter! There are about 350 students in the school. Last year (year 1) there were 150. To give you an idea of the growth in this country, they expect to have over 1,000 students within two years.
Our apartment is lovely and maids magically arrive to clean it EVERY DAY! We tried to send them away one day but they insisted that they must clean. The kitchen cupboards are positioned very high! I'm not especially short and it is difficult for me to reach the top shelf of the cabinets. When the air conditioning in one of the bedrooms wasn't working they came to fix it immediately. Also, the first sofa we had was made of some sort of fake leather and it started peeling, for lack of a better word, two days after we got here. We showed it to the office manager and they brought a new one the next day. We weren't really asking for a replacement, we just wanted to note the flaking on our inventory sheet so that we wouldn't be charged for the sofa when we left but that is how it was handled. This doesn't bode well for my own home maintenance this spring. I'll be very disappointed when I dial 0 and find my problems aren't fixed IMMEDIATELY, it will be even worse when my feet return to earth and I realize I have to fix things myself!
One thing that we've rapidly learned is that everything has a system that MUST BE FOLLOWED or there will be BIG PROBLEMS. For example, I went to Gloria Jeans to purchase a french press so we could have coffee, and included three bags of coffee - columbian roast, mocha java, and bena bena. Well, the guy rang up 2 columbians and one mocha instead of one of each and you'd thing the world was coming to an end. I told him "no big deal" since the bottom line was that the charge was correct, but he said "oh no, BIG PROBLEM with bank!". My mother, Silas and Clara were waiting for me outside and thought I'd been taken hostage. Since I mentioned it, there are few american chains here - Gloria Jeans, KFC, and Pizza Hut are the only three I've seen. There are many american apparel labels however - my Mother picked up a Chanel purse for $7.00 (120,000 VND), and we've seen copious quantities of Louis Vuitton, Ambercrombie, La Coste, Timberland, Banana Republic, etc... DVD's can also be had for a song though they don't always work in US machines apparently. The woman at one DVD stall said they do work in US computers, usually not on DVD machines. A lot of the movies currently out at the movies are on DVD here. So, let me know if you are dying for a designer label and I'll see what I can do for you... and as a special note to Sandy McDonald - how about copious instead of plethora for a change?
Ho Chi Mihn is divided into districts. Our neighborhood is located in Thao Dien Ward, District 2. Much of the central shopping and high-end hotels are located in the adjacent district 1. We went to dinner in district 1 last night at a place called Bun - there should be a symbol over the "u" but I don't know how to do that. Anyway, bun means rice noodle. We've managed to cook or eat primarily western meals up until then. I'm quite proud of Silas and Clara for trying new foods, though entire crabs came in the dish their grandmother ordered last night and we weren't sure what to do with them. We ended up setting them aside - Silas had a dish with duck - he had to take the duck off the bone to eat it. Clara loved the rolled noodles and the bean sprouts.
We're going to the pagoda tomorrow so keep watch for those pictures along with notes from Silas and Clara.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
How to post a comment:
I've had an email asking how to post a comment. I think this is how you do it:
Click on the headline of the entry/paragraph you want to comment on, and it will take you to the "post a comment" screen. Enter your comment, then I think you will need to choose an identity - in our case it comes up automatically as our blog account. After you have figured out how to enter an identity, click "publish your comment".
Click on the headline of the entry/paragraph you want to comment on, and it will take you to the "post a comment" screen. Enter your comment, then I think you will need to choose an identity - in our case it comes up automatically as our blog account. After you have figured out how to enter an identity, click "publish your comment".
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Sunday Outing
I've discovered that if you click on the slideshow it will open on a larger screen and you can read the descriptions under the photos.
On Sunday we went to the local zoo, out for lunch, then a quick foray through the Ben Than market. We were pretty well saturated by that point - the traffic, the noise, and everyone trying to sell you something at the market. The aisles between the stalls are only about two feet wide and there are many people trying to get through them. I'll get a picture to post when we go back later this week. It may not be so busy on a weekday as it was on Sunday.
The zoo had a variety of animals and some lovely flowers. It was unnerving to see live bunnies in the snake enclosures.
Silas and I walked down to the produce stands and bakery this morning. I've posted some photos of the neighborhood and the local vendors.
On Sunday we went to the local zoo, out for lunch, then a quick foray through the Ben Than market. We were pretty well saturated by that point - the traffic, the noise, and everyone trying to sell you something at the market. The aisles between the stalls are only about two feet wide and there are many people trying to get through them. I'll get a picture to post when we go back later this week. It may not be so busy on a weekday as it was on Sunday.
The zoo had a variety of animals and some lovely flowers. It was unnerving to see live bunnies in the snake enclosures.
Silas and I walked down to the produce stands and bakery this morning. I've posted some photos of the neighborhood and the local vendors.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Hi from Clara!
Hi everybody! Its Clara. Vietnam is really warm and sunny,a couple days ago we went to the BenThanh market.It was really busy. All the people in the booths were saying buy this buy that!
It was amazing though, the place had everything.We also went to the zoo, the animals were so cute! I really liked the hippos and the deer. I forgot to bring my stuffed hippo though, and take pictures with it. Vietnam is really interesting, but I miss everybody.
BYE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
P.S. Silas finally caught a gecko.
It was amazing though, the place had everything.We also went to the zoo, the animals were so cute! I really liked the hippos and the deer. I forgot to bring my stuffed hippo though, and take pictures with it. Vietnam is really interesting, but I miss everybody.
BYE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
P.S. Silas finally caught a gecko.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
hello!
HELLO!! It's Silas. Vietnam is awesome. The air is sort of smokey, but it also has the scent of tropical flowers, a surprising sort of good smell. At night there are geckos all over the walls, they are about 2 inches long (I still have not caught one). The Saigon river is filthy, I went up to its bank and I saw a sandal and a glove and tons of wrappers everywhere!
The currency of money here is crazy! 17,000 dong is 1 US dollar! So a can of coke that's 6,000 dong is only about 25 cents!
Ho Chi Minh city is about 3 times bigger than Boston, it has 7 million people so it's pretty large! It's pretty polluted and some people wear cloth masks over their noses and mouths because of it. It's climate is a little bit like florida but a lot warmer, like it's in the 80's in the dead of winter. People are very friendly here. They say hello in english just to practise it! One other thing about the city, mopeds and motor bikes are everywhere... The streets are packed with them like a can of sardines! There is also tons of construction going on, the emerging economy makes things pop up within a week. They are paving a road near my apartment today, out of nowhere! There are at least thirty new projects in my district, one next to my "house."
So I have to go now, (to lie in front of my air conditioner) so I will keep everyone posted!
Silas.
The currency of money here is crazy! 17,000 dong is 1 US dollar! So a can of coke that's 6,000 dong is only about 25 cents!
Ho Chi Minh city is about 3 times bigger than Boston, it has 7 million people so it's pretty large! It's pretty polluted and some people wear cloth masks over their noses and mouths because of it. It's climate is a little bit like florida but a lot warmer, like it's in the 80's in the dead of winter. People are very friendly here. They say hello in english just to practise it! One other thing about the city, mopeds and motor bikes are everywhere... The streets are packed with them like a can of sardines! There is also tons of construction going on, the emerging economy makes things pop up within a week. They are paving a road near my apartment today, out of nowhere! There are at least thirty new projects in my district, one next to my "house."
So I have to go now, (to lie in front of my air conditioner) so I will keep everyone posted!
Silas.
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